Two Jesuits murdered in Moscow

Your prayers are requested for the repose of the souls of two Jesuits who were murdered in Moscow yesterday, 28 October. Otto Messmer, aged 46, a Russian national and the Regional Superior (left in picture), and Victor Betancourt, aged 42, an Ecuadoran who has been based in Russia since 2000 and did his Tertianship in Dublin in 2006-7 (right in picture), were found in their apartment in downtown Moscow having been stabbed to death. According to news reports, Otto and Victor died of both knife wounds and head injuries. The motive for the attack is as yet unknown, and a criminal case has been opened. A requiem Mass for the two Jesuits will be said by Archbishop Paolo Pezzi at 6pm, Wednesday 29 October, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow. Read more »

Naomh Pól i mBéal Feirste

The Year of St Paul is getting special treatment as Gaeilge in Belfast. Alan McGuckian’s weekly Seminars in Cultúlann MacAdam Ó Fiaich on the Falls Road are all given over to St. Paul and his letters. (Every Thursday night at 7.00pm). Belfast Gaels find themselves inspired and shocked in equal measure by the zeal of Paul both before and after Damascus. There will be a Díseart Lae (one day retreat in Irish) on the first Saturday in Advent. Two Jesuits, Barney McGuckian and  León Ó Giolláin, joined Alan (pictured here left to right in the front row) and helped with the input at the last Díseart in the early summer.

So you can’t forgive?

Brian Lennon has just completed a book, So You Can’t Forgive…? Moving Towards Freedom, which he hopes will be published in the New Year. It is based on his experience of working with people who have suffered in the Northern Ireland conflict, although the examples he uses are more general. Most people think the Christian message is all about reconciliation. That is really important, but it is only part of it. In this book Brian also looks at separation as part of forgiving. He also explores the dangers of victimhood.

Madrid Summit

Twelve new Provincials were among those who gathered with John Dardis just outside Madrid for the annual meeting of the European Provincials. Ireland makes a big contribution through Dermot O’Connor as Assistant to the President of the Conference, through Brendan McPartlin who is European Social delegate and through Joe Dargan and Jan van de Poll who run the Tertianship based in Dublin. Jan isn’t of course a member of the Irish Province – we have adopted him! John Dardis reports below.

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SJ alumni in Vienna

The Irish Jesuits, though they run six schools, have no Federation of graduates. However two Irishmen, Michael Sheil SJ and Dr Ray Murphy (respectively the Past President and the incoming President of the Clongowes Union) attended the European Confederation of Jesuit Alumni/ae, meeting in Pallottihaus, Vienna, (pictured) this month. They reported on the Sli Eile project in KwaZuluNatal, which engages each of our five schools for a ten-week project to build an orphanage for Double-Aids victims in the town of Franklin. They desribed the Belvedere Union’s continuing work for the homeless of Dublin, and the involvement of Clongowes past pupils and Poetry [Fifth Year] students in Lesotho, combatting soil-erosion, and building. Read Michael’s report below. Read more »

Father Browne’s Dublin

It is twenty years since Eddie O’Donnell SJ, using Fr Frank Browne’s photographs, produced “Annals of Dublin”, which quickly became a best-seller. Now the Currach Press has brought out a handsome and expanded edition of what was described as “one of the best publications ever produced about Dublin city”. It has been updated and now (in the words of the publishers) “tells the story of Dublin from pre-history to the recession of 2008″.

TY makes a difference

Oliver Murphy (pictured) was appointed as Transition Year Co-ordinator and Year Head at Belvedere College in the summer of 2007. Now, just fourteen months into the job, he reflects on the year with some amazement. The students of Transition Year 2007-8 have performed ballroom dancing in the Helix before a crowd of 1000 spectators, cycled on a pilgrimage across the snow-capped mountains of Northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela, dived under the surface of Killary Harbour, skied on the slopes of Mont Blanc, made their own electric guitars, driven cars at Mondello, cooked Chicken Marango and chocolate brownies. More importantly they have grown in so many ways. Read Oliver’s report below: Read more »

Kevin’s goodbye

On Thursday 23rd October 2008 Fr Kevin O’Rourke’s kith and kin and fellow-workers gathered in the Mission Office to celebrate his twelve years of dedicated service and to thank him for his gentle, caring and listening presence to so many in the past years. The oldest missionary present, Fr. John Fitzgerald, presented to Kevin on behalf of all missionaries a beautiful Ethiopian icon of the passion and resurrection of Christ and a Rwandan batik of the most renowned refugee family – the Holy Family in their flight into Egypt. Pictured are Richard O’Dwyer, Kevin O’Rourke, John Fitzgerald, and John Guiney.

Guns near Goma

Gerry Clarke SJ in Goma (Democratic Republic of Congo) asks for our prayers. The war is coming closer. The rebels are within twenty miles of the JRS camp, and there is a serious question this morning (28 October) about evacuating JRS personnel. Composed of Tutsi soldiers, the rebel army is led by General Laurent Nkunda, who refuses to disarm while there are still Hutu rebels in the area. According to news reports today, Nkunda’s rebels have declared that their next target is Goma, from which town an estimated 20,000 people are currently fleeing.

Short Notices

• Two entrants from Leeson Street ran the Dublin Marathon. For Terry Walsh SJ, a 57-year-old New England Jesuit who teaches philosophy in Heythrop College, London, this was his 14th Marathon; for Damien Burke, Jesuit archivist, his first. Both completed the course under four hours. Damien finished in the top sixth, Terry in the top quarter of the 12,000 runners. The photograph shows Terry in Fitzwilliam Street limbering up for the start.
• To mark the 150th Anniversary of the completion of Cardinal Newman’s seven-year service to Irish education, a special Mass of Commemoration will be offered in University Church, St Stephen’s Green, on Tuesday, 11th November 2008 at 6.30p.m. Bishop Leo O’Reilly will preside and preach.
• Bill Johnston was moved recently to Loyola House, a Jesuit nursing unit in Tokyo. Because of a slight fever, he is mostly in bed. He has a good colour and recognizes people, and the insertion of a pacemaker seems to have helped. Sometimes he is able to say a few words that are intelligible, but he still cannot eat or drink.
• The Cherryfielders would be particularly glad of visitors in these days of settling in to the still unfinished building. Entrance is via the Gonzaga avenue – plenty of parking space there.

Hession session

Coláiste Iognáid, the Jesuit school in Galway, held a benefit concert on Thursday, October 23, where a number of local and international artists played with the school orchestra and choir under the direction of music teacher, Carl Hession. The concert, named October Twilight, was held in aid of the school rowing club. Four students were MCs for a host of acts including the renowned Frankie Gavin, Michelle Lally, and Johnny Duhan. Three ex-students, the Cunningham brothers, performed a set, as did the Lennon family who composed three generations including the granddaughter, Aifric, a current student. There were two bands composed of sixth year students, and more than 120 students took part in the orchestra and choir. See the concert photos: PicasaWeb.

Richard Leonard returns

Richard Leonard SJ, who was in Ireland last year for a launch of his book about faith and movies, is returning for a seminar on addiction in Manresa on Saturday 1 November. He is due to speak about the internet and addiction, and is expected to feature on the Pat Kenny show on Bank Holiday Monday to address the same subject. Richard, of course, acknowledges the tremendous good of information technology, but he draws attention to the depth and extent of the phenomenon of real addiction which some people may suffer in their use of the web. For more details on the Manresa seminar, consult their website.

Making headway with JRS in Limerick

In his first weeks in the Jesuit Refugee Service in Limerick, Rory Halpin SJ has been working with JRS Director Eugene Quinn to identify the needs of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in and around the Limerick area. Their initial work will entail pastoral outreach to three of the five Direct Provision Centres (Foynes, Clyde House, and Knockalisheen), focusing on those asylum seekers who are most vulnerable. Rory then hopes to develop an English language support project for transition year students in Crescent College, getting them to teach asylum seekers from these Direct Provision Centres. He is also developing an intercultural resource for parishes, to assist in the integration of new communities.